massive book. Indeed, the Constitution arrives only after page 100. Before then, part
one provides an elegantly literate précis of
historical attitudes about sex in the U.S.’
line of cultural inheritance,
from classical Greece and
Rome and the Bible to
Christian Rome and Western Europe to Puritan and
eighteenth-century England
and its American colonies.

Throughout, Stone focuses
on obscenity, birth control,
and homosexuality—precisely the matters
that U.S. law has struggled with from the mid-nineteenth century onward. That troika of
torments is less evident in part two, “
Founders,” which tracks the deliberations over the
relationship of religion and government that
led to a Constitution without mention of
God, and, eventually, the First and Ninth
Amendments, the concept of unenumerated
rights, and Jefferson’s “wall of separation” between church and state. Part three consists of
brilliant historical distillations of social phenomena—the Second Great Awakening, the
suppression-of-vice movement, the anticon-traception and antiabortion movements, and
the criminalization of homosexuality—and
their legal ramifications. The last three parts
present a century of cases that have, Stone
says, brought the U.S. to a revolutionary moment, a high point in personal rights of sexual
expression. The story continues, of course,
but this is the definitive account of its past
and present. —Ray Olson

Superfandom: How Our Obsessions Are
Changing What We Buy and Who We Are.

By Zoe Fraade-Blanar and Aaron M.

Glazer.

Mar. 2017. 288p. Norton, $27.95 (9780393249958).

302.23.

Here’s an insightful and entertaining look atthe culture of fandom, from its early days rightup to the present. The authors focus on theway fandom has evolved from an essentiallypassive pastime—people liked something, sothey tried to acquire it or produce their ownversions of it—to a symbiotic relationshipbetween consumer and producer. These days,acquisition is a lot easier than it used to be,thanks to online shopping, which means thatfans have more time for peripheral activities,including—and this is the most fascinat-ing element of the book—persuading thepeople who make things to make the thingsthe fans want. The authors call it a “fandomsingularity”: marketers exploit fans by pro-ducing things they know the fans will buy,while at the same time fans influence whatthe marketers produce (there’s a hugely pop-ular, entirely computer-generated Japanesepop singer, Hatsune Miku, whose materialis often suggested or even written by “her”fans). Well-reasoned and engagingly written,this book will make readers realize that a newproduct that seems to have been made just forthem, so perfectly does it fit their taste, prob-ably was—because marketers know what wewant and because we’ve told the marketers togive it to us. Fascinating and more than a littlefrightening. —David Pitt

The Unmade Bed: The Messy Truth about
Men and Women in the 21st Century.

By Stephen Marche.

Mar. 2017. 256p. Simon & Schuster, $26

(9781476780153). 306.7.

It begins with a metaexercise. Marche, novelist (The Hunger of the Wolf, 2015) and culture
writer, begins by mansplaining the evolution
of the word mansplaining. He makes us fully
aware he is cognizant of the inherent irony,
and that it is perhaps an exercise in discovery
as much for him as it is for us. He is searching, it seems, not just for his place in a culture
where mansplaining is a thing but where,
however reluctantly and in spite of himself,
he might participate. In often poetic prose,
he recounts some deeply personal experiences
that make him question cultural gender roles
and his own confusion amongst them. In
contemplative descriptions of his daily life,
Marche makes arguments for the validity of
his feelings with both well-researched cultural
evidence and notes from his wife. The book
feels almost like a type of cerebral entry an
educated writer, father, or husband might
make to himself in his journal: a private fact-finding mission to meditate on the rules of
today and better survive the culture of tomorrow. Thankfully, Marche made this particular
journal entry public. —Glendy X. Mattalia

BusinessLeadership Step by Step: Becomethe Person Others Follow.

By Joshua Spodek.

Feb. 2017. 256p. AMACOM, $24 (9780814437933);

e-book (9780814437940). 658.4.

Before thinking of Spodek’s book as yet another HR-type tome, ask yourself, How does
anyone learn to lead—
outside of business school and
institutes devoted to that
subject? Taking a page or
two from the performing arts, Spodek bases his
advice on a simple rubric:
practice, practice, practice.

In Spodek’s plan, becoming a leader who’s followed and respected
involves four progressive goals (
understanding yourself, leading yourself, understanding
others, leading others—which are a lot more
difficult than these simple headings sound)

with 22 total exercises. Every chapter is onestep, containing one exercise with instruc-tions, a checklist, questions to reflect on,and post-exercises. The process itself in-volves much introspection, some dedicatedtime, and the real opportunity to becomea leader. As just one example: to find yourauthentic voice, capture your inner mono-logues—and practice them with others.

Think about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have
a dream” speech or Victor Frankl’s memoir
of the Holocaust in terms of voicing beliefs.

This is practical leadership training made
perfect. Bravo! —Barbara Jacobs

ScienceCurators: Behind the Scenes ofNatural History Museums.

By Lance Grande.

Mar. 2017. 432p. Univ. of Chicago, $35

(9780226192758); e-book (9780226289431). 508.092.

Many people visit a natural history museum at some point in their lives, but how
many know what goes on behind the exhibits? That museums have far more specimens
and artifacts in storage than on display? And
that those specimens often support ground-breaking research by scientists from all over
the world? Grande, a senior curator of paleontology at Chicago’s world-renowned Field
Museum of Natural History, takes readers
on an intimate tour backstage to explain
exactly what natural history museum curators do.

He also uses his career as
a framework to present an
inside view of the entire
profession. As he recounts
his start in science and
profiles his mentors, we
get a personal look at the
development of a research scientist. He also
portrays many of his colleagues and shares
their experiences, and tells fascinating stories
about events both well known (the bidding
war, eventually won by the Field Museum,
for the fossil T. rex known as Sue) and more
obscure (the herpetologist who kept notes of
his symptoms as he was dying from a venomous snakebite). Grande’s illumination of the
evolving role of the natural history museum
and of collection curators completes this
passionate memoir and celebration of an essential public resource. —Nancy Bent